Weep Not For Roads Untraveled
by M. Norris
Summary: Where certain paths lead to betrayals and broken hearts, the path that follows might lead to new beginnings and true love. One-shot.


_**This is my first story. I proof-read it a couple of times, but there may be some mistakes (I've never written a story in English, although I am fluent in the language). So I apologise if some pop up.**_

_**The song is called "Roads Untraveled", by Linkin Park.**_

* * *

**Weep not for roads untraveled**  
**Weep not for paths left alone**

High school folk never stopped for a second look, never invested the time to peel the delicate layers of physical and psychological attributes. In the eyes of her "classmates", Jenny Burton was an outcast, being a successful student and playing violin considered an apparent sin. Disdain for them was all she had, resulting in having nowhere to turn and no one to rely on.

Then again, raging hormones and "not-so-glorious" looks made her think that way. And she promised herself to not give in to first impressions, and to dig deeper.

Those same hormones also led to a plentiful of mistakes, giving her heart to boys who wouldn't hesitate to crush it, whose interests never remained above her neck. A broken heart - and successive days of crying - always came from those ventures.

Watching her father getting arrested, the one person she loved - and at the time, trusted -, was the reason she used to justify her unwavering adoption of the cardinal rule of spying, for she wouldn't have to deal with a broken heart. But she never regretted that adoption, and Sarah Walker, ultimate spy and "enforcer", would consider stabbing anyone who would try to change her mind, who would try to pry those times from her.

**'Cause beyond every bend**  
**There's a long blinding end**  
**It's the worst kind of pain I've known**

Bryce's "heel turn" from the CIA was a sucker punch she never expected. For stealing and blowing up the Intersect, she took it as treason of the highest order. Her judgment of him was blinded by her emotions - and looking back, her basic need of a stress reliever after a mission. By allowing all of that to interfere, she never thought he could be that character. She never thought that he would be capable of betraying ideals and notions taught to her early in her training.

She felt her partner - and former lover, even if it was never true love in the first place - owed her an explanation for all that had happened. Why he didn't trust her.

Then again, he was dead. And she felt really bad about that.

But to let herself betray - not fully, mind you - the adoption of that cardinal rule she had done once she joined the CIA - once she shed Jenny Burton like a snake switching skins - made her feel even worse. And since all the tables were turned, she was now the target of a thorough investigation, one that would scar her reputation forever if nothing was done. If Larkin wasn't dead, she would stab him. Repeatedly.

So she put her emotions aside. She was going to get to the bottom of it.

She hit a snag, and she needed to clear her head. Her despair was threatening to crush her, the emotions overwhelming. That night led her to a rustic, lonely bench in a park located in Washington, D.C.

**Give up your heart left broken**  
**And let that mistake pass on**

The prospects of a steady job and a loving family backing his decisions made him try to be the best he could be. Looking back, the pressure of a full-ride scholarship helped cement that decision. However, attempting it was hundred times harder than he thought, for Chuck Bartowski, nerd extraordinaire and brilliant engineer-to-be, allowed himself to be blind and gullible, and so damn trusting.

He was expelled from Stanford, his teacher claiming he stole a mid-term answer key and was selling copies. All from a tip and a successful planting of said answer key.

He never thought Bryce would do it. He trusted him, and he was his college best friend. So he never saw it coming.

**'Cause the love that you lost**  
**Wasn't worth what it cost**  
**And in time you'll be glad it's gone**

After that betrayal, his prospect of a steady job led him to a Buy More. And when he thought he couldn't hit any lower, on a fateful lunch break in 2003 some days following his expulsion, he drove to Stanford Campus to explain himself to the love of his life.

He thought Jill Roberts was the one. She understood his jokes and nerdy references, and they shared a passion for Zork. He even had a ring ready. But for all the missed calls and public displays of embarrassment, he never expected the sucker punch that would be her betrayal.

Jill was dating Bryce Larkin.

And all she could do was say "sorry".

So he wept. He mourned for a friendship that cost him his future, and a love that never proved faithful.

He had an install for a wealthy client in D.C., and he needed to clear his head. His sadness was threatening to crush him, the emotions overwhelming. That night led him to a park. And he saw despair sitting in a rustic, lonely bench.

**Weep not for roads untraveled**  
**Weep not for sights unseen**

Sarah looked up from her thoughts to witness the man, sadness in his brown eyes. For a second, she was tempted to throw a knife and end his embarrassment. But on her haze of despair, she remembered her promise to not let first impressions prevail.

So she moved to the side of the bench, and he sat beside her.

Both betrayed and broken hearted, they talked for hours, about lost loves and roads with ends that blinded their hearts. But they never realized were stunned that the road they travelled would lead them together, from very distant worlds, to a common place.

In one night, he made her shed the unwavering adoption. And, quite surprisingly, they found true love.

She never thought about stabbing him again.

**May your love never end**  
**And if you need a friend**  
**There's a seat here alongside me**


End file.
